Mr. Potter, George Bailey, and Karl Marx: The Struggle for Control
I am deeply impacted by the fact that I am writing this post in the safety of The United States, while my friends and colleagues are being run ragged attempting to meet the ever-mounting needs of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. The emotional upheaval that wells up within me every time I am asked to bring some kind of understanding to this incomprehensible situation. Is Putin a good guy or villain? Do not you think the Ukrainian president a hero? All these questions and issues and many more weigh heavy on my mind everyday as I attempt to engage with Karl Polanyi’s, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time.[1] I struggle to read this comprehensive look at the foundational dynamics of the financial markets in society, and their influences internationally that contribute to the rise of conflict and war. It is too close to home at the moment. Yet, I am intrigued to know how we got here.
Polanyi’s experience comes from living during one of the most tumultuous times of change in modern history. He looks at the impact of history, economics, society, and politics on the financial markets, international trade and how they help or hinder life for the common folks. Polanyi describes the institutional approaches towards financial decisions as pendulum that swings from the hands-off mentality of laissez-faire to that of a protective and controlling. These diametrically opposed systems both fail in that they both resist to see value in the others point of view. Polanyi also attributes their failure to not acknowledging the role of society. The human element is just as important as the financial and cannot be separated.
I found Polanyi’s four institutions of civilization insightful: balance-of-power, international gold standard, self-regulating market, and the liberal state. The international gold standard essentially rewarded trade to those countries that had the capabilities to acquire gold. This leaves those smaller and more impoverished nations indebted before they even start. The self-regulating market lives in the land of an unattainable utopia. [2] This indulgence on the free market, according to Polanyi, leads to the collapse of the economy resulting in war and a pendulum swing toward more governmental control. [3] It could be that the global economic impact of Covid 19 on unemployment, mass relief spending by global governments, higher than reasonable inflation may have set the stage for international unrest.
In theory one might think that the balance-of-power would create a type of accountability system, yet even within our own system of government we can see how this may fail. It is easy to see that without a strong moral compass that cannot be corrupted by money from special interest groups there is no real balance. In the last few years, we have seen the understanding of right and wrong and what is moral shift all over the place. I do not claim to know where it should be, but it appears that there has been and international deterioration of society. This lack of moral base may in fact be defining the “terms of the institutional origins of the crisis” [4] we are experiencing today.
So, what does Mr. Potter, George Bailey (“It’s A Wonderful Life”), and Karl Marx have to do with this struggle? I see Mr. Potter as the man who represents the extreme, heartless and greedy man of the free market. Karl Marx is on the other extreme that takes the hard hand of extreme control. Neither of who actually see the effect of their decisions on the society. They do not look at the hopes and dreams of those with whom their decision impact. George Bailey, though a fictional character, saw the individual. He believes in their ability to make something of themselves and the interconnectedness we all have. It was his investment in the simple desires of his neighbors that upset the egos of the powerful.
Some questions that came to my mind in this week’s readings:
How much does corruption impact economical inequity?
Is it possible that it is corruption that plays a major role in the demise of a particular system more than the system itself?
If we could have differentiated [5] leadership that represented both sides of the pendulum that could not be compromised, could we actually achieve a healthy balance and true world peace?
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1 Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, 2nd Beacon Paperback ed (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001).
2 Ibid., 3.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., 5.
5 Edwin H Friedman, Margaret M Treadwell, and Edward W Beal, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (New York: Church Publishing, 2017), https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=426B7CAF-62B3-434F-90AA-3596E9ACBD34.
About the Author
Denise Johnson
Special Education teacher K-12, School Counselor K-12, Overseas field worker in Poland,4 responses to “Mr. Potter, George Bailey, and Karl Marx: The Struggle for Control”
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Hi Denise. Thank you for your thoughtful engagement with Polayni’s work. I also found the material emotionally difficult in light of what Lebanon has been experiencing the past 2.5 years and in light of the war in Ukraine and knowing the pain these hundreds of thousands of displaced families are experiencing and the horror of having their homes and communities destroyed. It has brought back all that we saw and heard in the aftermath of ISIS and also the war in Syria. So, thank you for writing in the midst of the weight on your heart.
One of your closing questions particularly caught my attention: How much does corruption impact economic inequity? Corruption is at the center of Lebanon’s collapse. The economic gap between the wealthiest 1% in Lebanon (billionaires multiple times over who have used public office for their own enrichment) and the rest of the population has been growing every year. Corruption caught up with the country in 2019. And it is not the wealthy who are suffering the consequences. It is the middle class who is now impoverished, and the previously impoverished who are now destitute.
So, to your second question: Is it possible that it is corruption that plays a major role in the demise of a particular system more than the system itself? Based on living in a country as it collapsed under the weight of corruption, I would lean heavily to ‘yes’ regarding the role of corruption in the demise of a particular system (more so than the system itself).
What do you think Polanyi would say about this issue?
Thank you Denise for weighing on the issue of corruption and its role to the demise of a system, more than the system itself, and the role of corruption in impacting economic inequity. It is a topic that makes me very emotional because of the corruption that I have witnessed in my country and other developing countries. I can attest to the fact that corruption has brought a lot of misery to the world’s majority who are living in abject poverty despite of living in some of the most resourced countries, corruption perpetuated by their own leaders but also by economic saboteurs from the developed world, for their own selfish interests.
Denise I can not even imagine the heavy heart you have for the people you love and are connected to.
You mention the impact from a lack of moral base…can you say more about this? How might a lack of an ethical base contrast to morality?
Denise, I’m sure you long to be in the country and with the people you love. The reading takes on such a different meaning when it’s personal. You write, “In the last few years, we have seen the understanding of right and wrong and what is moral shift all over the place.” Can you say a little more about what you understand that to be? You also ask about Putin and Zelensky and what to make of them – I’d like to hear your thoughts on that as you have a long history in the region and familiarity with the issues.